I WANNA BE A COWBOY....



AND YOU CAN BE MY COWGIRL!



It is always awesome to spend some time with my brother and his family. This year, we had a big slumber party and the kids were able to play until late in the night. It never seems to be enough time and even all night didn't seem like enough. They are always so good to take the kids out on the horses (which is the only reason Bella tolerates all Dan's teasing!)


Bella had a bit of a scare on the horse, but she got back on with Londyn and had a great time.


I think Olivia like riding with Londyn much better than riding with Uncle Dan.


It's so hard to wait your turn!


I like it here Mommy!




Runnin' and playin' on the farm is AWESOME!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MONIQUE!



When I asked Monique what she wanted to do for her party this year, she said, "I want a hula party!" So, that's what we did! It was fun to have the party in Utah with all the cousins. She shared her party with Seth (because his birthday is 4 days before hers) It was super, super fun.

We started the party by making grass skirts from crepe paper. Once everyone had their skirts on, we learned the Hukilau dance. Those little kids are pretty good hula dancers! We then had free style dancing to the Hawaii Five-O theme. That was a favorite for the old folks.

After our hula dancing, we went to the backyard for a water balloon fight. The rules were, the kids could only throw balloons at the grown-up men! Yup, that made for a fun water fight. Of course, the "grown-up" men started to throw them back, and we had an all out balloon fight. Many of us ended up very, very wet.

Once we all finished laughing about the wetness, we had a limbo contest. I have to say, Kirk's mom can go pretty low! Grandma Smith kept tricking people and putting the bar really low. So low, the kids had to shimmy on their bellies to get under. It also made us realize how old some of us are getting.

After the back breaking limbo, we went inside to open gifts. Monique received many wonderful gifts, but her favorites were the talking "Belle" doll from Grandma Smith, and her new Nintendo DS.

Once the gift ripping was complete, we went on to the cake. Monique wanted a Princess cake this year (imagine that) so that's what I made for her. Complete with a purple, fluffy dress! (I'm so glad she liked it.)

It was a fun, family filled day.

WE LOVE YOU MONIQUE!!

BATTLE OF THE BANDS

I love, love, love guitar hero. It is so much fun to play, and to watch others play.
It always makes for a fun Sunday afternoon at grandma's house!
(or any other afternoon, morning, evening, middle of the night, anywhere you happen to be!)



These guys totally ROCK!



Hey, you have to concentrate to win



Bella and Austin are pretty good at this game


Alena and Monique were our backup dancers


Seriously Michael....what is wrong with you?


Jean had to dance to play.
It was so fun to watch her dance around with her guitar.

I'm looking forward to a rematch with
ALL OF YOU!

So get ready!

KARAOKE NIGHT!

Grandma has a new toy...the karaoke machine! Everyone had so much fun making fools of themselves. Laughing at each other is an evening well spent, right?


Monique's favorite pass time is singing,
so she was right in her element



Bella rocked out to Hannah Montana



Olivia was amazing with her rendition of
"Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star"


Seth kept looking at the words even though he can't read



Michael did a full episode of
"The Michael Britton Show"
We can always count on him for some good entertainment!

CELEBRATING THE 24TH




For the first half of the summer, Kirk was on crutches, so we didn't do much. Therefore, we packed all our summer fun into the second half of the summer. Our first stop was Utah to visit all the fam. It was tons of busy, crazy fun!



We are not allowed to do fireworks in our area, so it was great to be at grandma and grandpa's for the 24th of July. They always buy some awesome fireworks and they are both really patient as they start to get mauled by the kiddies!



At grandma & grandpa's house, we always start the show while it's still light. I'm not quite sure why. If you ask me, it's because grandma just can't wait to start playing with matches!



Monique and Seth thought the "screamers" were too loud!



Bella decided to take charge of the fireworks



Michael overseeing the pile of used fireworks for the traditional "end of night" bonfire.

SLACKER TIME!

I have been a total slacker with my blog. I am now back to update all you interested people with all the happenings of our family. Be prepared for many, many posts and pictures.

AND AWAY WE GO!!!

This is my cute little nephew!

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